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After a 15 month wait, my US wife has eventually received her Residents Card. Although I'm a Brit we met and married in Austria where I was working and so decided to come back into the UK under the EEA rules . . . much cheaper. My question now concerns her getting naturalisation as wife of a British Citizen. In theory she should be able to apply after three years but I don't see anything in the legislation regarding someone coming in under EEA law. The Surinder Singh rules seems to straddle two lots of legislation. Can anyone help please?

EU route + UK route to naturalisation are immiscible.

Your wife will qualify for permanent residence under the EU route after 5 years of residence in accordance with the EU regulations. The time required (after PR is attained) to naturalise depends on the new rules coming into force around July 2011.

But permanent residence and naturalisation are not the same thing are they? And, as a British Citizen, my wife should be entitled to naturalisation after she has lived in the UK more than three years. There is an added complication to applying for permanent residence for her in five years and that is that the application form EEA4 requires that I have acted as an EEA National exercising Treaty Rights in the UK whereas as a British Citizen, I can't do that and have the right to use my time as I see fit.

Mikethebook wrote:But permanent residence and naturalisation are not the same thing are they? And, as a British Citizen, my wife should be entitled to naturalisation after she has lived in the UK more than three years. There is an added complication to applying for permanent residence for her in five years and that is that the application form EEA4 requires that I have acted as an EEA National exercising Treaty Rights in the UK whereas as a British Citizen, I can't do that and have the right to use my time as I see fit.

No - you can't chop and change - she entered on EEA route, if you want to switch you have to start again and the clock is reset.

Permanent residence is just the right to live here permanatly, under UK rules you get it after two years marriage and it's called ILR, under EEA rules it's five years and called PR.

Natualisation is becoming a British Citizen and under UK rules it's one more year after being on ILR, EEA one more year normally but as in your case you are a Briitsh Citizen your wife can naturalise after five years.

Thanks Wanderer! Obtaining PR; is that five years from entering the UK or at the expiration of the Resident's Card? My wife has only just got it and we've been living here for 18 months. And we definitely have to apply for PR before we can apply for naturalisation?
There is just one problem for me with form EEA4 and that is (in 5 years time) in showing that I've acted as an EEA National exercising Treaty Rights in the UK. When we applied we could say we were self-sufficient. Now t money is running out and I would like to go on benefit while I try to finish a book for publication which as a Brit but not an EEA National I'm entitled to.
Section 3.11, Chapter 9 (Appeals) of the European casework instructions or the Border Agency makes mention of the ECJ Case of Eind. The decision of the court in December of 2007 was that:

“where a worker returns to the Member State of which is a national, after being gainfully employed in another Member State, a third-country member of his family has a right under . . . to reside in the Member State of which the worker is a national, even where that worker does not carry on any effective and genuine economic activities.â€

If you are going the self sufficient route then ur missus will need Comprehensive Health Insurance and the five year to PR will start from then.

Don't understand. My wife is covered by the NHS as the permanently resident wife of a British Citizen.

Mikethebook wrote:Don't understand. My wife is covered by the NHS as the permanently resident wife of a British Citizen.

Not if ur self-sufficient AIUI, have a search it's come up a lot recently and it's something i didn't know.

Look here

http://www.immigrationboards.com/viewtopic.php?t=50495

Mikethebook wrote:Don't understand. My wife is covered by the NHS as the permanently resident wife of a British Citizen.

Remember she's entered as the Family Member of an EEA citizen exercising a treaty right not as the spouse of a British Citizen. EEA being free is noce but it's fearsomely complicated with major holes to fall into.

Actually we're both now working, me part-time, part-time self-employed though that hasn't brought in any money yet. My wife is self-employed and when we completed the form EEA2 we got my wife's card on the basis of her self-employment as well as being self-sufficient.